It's really quite easy actually. Just leave the trail around 5000 feet and stick to the ridge crest. There are some old yellow paint splotches on the rocks that you can follow if you like. But it's an easy scramble over talus to the summit.

It certainly is. And it gets even more pronounced as you go north. Some of the mountains I've seen on the Kenai Peninsula are only 4000 feet but with all the glaciers and steep rock walls, they look like 8000 feet.